The most happening and hippest lifestyle mall in Johor Baru was founded by a Bumiputera start-up company that wanted to provide a new space for art practitioners and retailers to flourish.
“Kilang Bateri” in Jalan Tampoi, here, opened its doors two years ago and slowly became a popular spot for families, businessmen and hipsters alike due to its unique premises, which once housed a factory that made batteries.
But it was the management company Foreveready Sdn Bhd’s consistent effort to bring together traders and collaborators with a similar vision that helped to sustain Kilang Bateri’s success.
Foreveready director Johan Ariffin Mohd Ropi said Kilang Bateri received a huge boost early during its operations when he took part and won in a competition involving various start-up companies organised by the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju).
“The competition was conducted as a week-long boot camp in Cyberjaya under Teraju’s Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme (SUPERB).
“Many Bumiputera companies like mine had to be on our toes. We had to convince a panel of industry experts on why our businesses deserved the RM500,000 grants up for grabs. I was among more than 10 entrepreneurs who won the grants.
“The grant from the SUPERB programme boosted Kilang Bateri’s operations when we got it on our third month of operations.
“We upgraded our parking lot from that of a quarry dust-paved compound with 400 lots to a gravel-paved area with 700 lots and installed closed-circuit television cameras and other amenities for the safety and comfort of the customers,” said Johan, adding that the added conveniences helped to boost the number of visitors to the mall by almost 40 per cent.
The mall is home to 184 traders, entrepreneurs and food and beverage operators who occupy 33,000 sq m of retail space.
Bumiputeras make up about 90 per cent of the mix of experienced businesses and newcomers.
Homegrown label JOHO, which specialises in arts, event management and fashion, is among the companies that have helped to develop Kilang Bateri.
It often spearheads events at the two 10,000 sq ft lots available for functions, concerts and arts events at the mall.
Johan said Bumiputera traders such as those in Kilang Bateri would benefit from the Bumiputera Economic Transformation Roadmap 2.0 (BETR 2.0) announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Wednesday.
“The push under BETR 2.0 and the Bumiputera Wellbeing Transformation initiative will help entrepreneurs to expand their businesses in the region.
“A few traders in Kilang Bateri have a presence in Brunei and Singapore, and initiatives under
BETR will help others like them to penetrate the Asean market, particularly Indonesia and its almost 270 million population,” he said.